I was too shy to become your sun, so I became a cold moon
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: In which, desperate to see his nephew with some happiness in his life, Hiashi implies he should stay away from the Uzumaki girl. Naturally, Neji seeks her out anyway. (Female Naruto)
1. Chapter 1

**I**

.

_"Uzumaki Naruto is not a person of interest, especially not someone the main family should interact with."_

He can remember dear Hinata-_sama_'s face as her father had said those words, his hard, soulless eyes drilling into her thin shoulders. He recalls the ache in his knees as he had knelt (at the back, one more face among the masses, just another branch) during the ceremonial celebration of the heir's acceptance into the Academy. It didn't matter that Neji was already well ahead of his classmates, didn't matter that his taijutsu forms were faultless, didn't matter that he was already estimated to be the rookie of the year for his cohort. There had been no celebration for him, just cousin Natsu and her gentle head pat. No, he'd had no celebration.

He'd also had no warning to stay away from this 'Uzumaki Naruto', whoever that may be. Oh, it had been heavily implied that the Hyūga clan were not to associate with her, but it'd never been stated that they had to stay away. Only the main branch and, with the print upon his brow, Neji has the hard evidence that he is not one of those ordered to remain away.

Crouched on the think limb of a Konoha-native tree, he watches the blonde (younger than him by a year, his junior in the academy) stumble through the basic steps of the simplest taijutsu form. The angle of her elbow is wrong, her feet not placed a sufficient distance apart to offer her any form of stability. It's almost pitiful to wat- no, it is pitiful to watch. Neji cringes, head ducking low into the comforts of his shoulders as he watches Uzumaki Naruto throw a punch and almost stumble face-first into the snow-covered ground. The red of her scarf flashes against the white backdrop, as obnoxiously coloured at the orange jacket that covers her arms. She's useless, destined for failure, it's painfully clear in every movement, in ever motion.

'_…not someone the main family should interact with._'

Yet, why does his clan head warn Hinata away from her? Why does his clan head know her by name? In the heir's class she may be, but Hinata has been attending the academy for all of two days. Why would their clan head bother with an academy student this early on? And why does 'Uzumaki' ring a bell? He doesn't have the answers, nor does he have the facts to deduce them.

Nothing some covert information gathering cannot fix.

.

He follows Uzumaki Naruto for five days, covertly and only for a half hour each day. He doesn't want the clan head realising what he is up to, for if the instruction to remain away is given, Neji would have to obey. So, little and often is his new motto. He's gathering information, forming opinions and facts and the mystery is only deepening.

The villagers whisper about her, treat her poorly. Today, he had quietly integrated himself among them as she walked by, listening to the harsh words that don't meet Uzumaki's ears, though the tone and facial expressions make it all painfully clear exactly what opinions they hold of her. But Neji, Neji had heard the words.

_Demon. Monster. Beast. Jinchūriki._

The latter had been the most specific term, the most damning. That the civilian who whispered that had been whisked away by the ANBU told Neji he'd heard something he wasn't meant to, even the higher powers that be didn't seem aware he'd been close enough to catch that.

It'd taken him weeks of digging to find so much as a reference to the title, between his observations of Uzumaki (who remains as dismal at taijutsu and her studies as he first observed) and his forcibly meek appearances in the Hyūga compound.

The first Jinchūriki had been a woman, the wife of the Shodaime Hokage, the woman who had drawn the Nine Tailed Demon Fox into her body and sealed it there. The same beast that had attacked Konoha seven years ago. A Biju that had once been sealed into Uzumaki Mito.

It's too much to be a coincidence, even if Neji's mind spins with the facts he's bee taught. The Fourth had killed the beast that night. That's what the textbooks say, that's what the academy teachers proclaim. But the way the adults act, the way the civilians recoil in repulsion, the way his clan head had all barred the heir from talking to Uzumaki; it makes a blistering, blinding amount of sense.

…

A life-changing seal given without consent, huh?

.

* * *

.

"Your form is wrong."

Uzumaki Naruto squawks, arms flailing and eyes swivelling around the clearing she's come to claim as her own. No one has found her here before, not even Iruka-sensei, meanie that he is. He's managed to suss out her every other hiding place, this is her last haven here. He can't have found it! Only, the voice isn't deep enough to be Iruka-sensei.

Fists still clenched, she swings around, searching for the source.

It's a boy. A boy her age with long, dark brown hair and freaky white eyes. The same eyes that weird girl is class got bullied for before Naruto stood up to them. Or, she tried to. It hadn't exactly ended in her favour but she'll prove them all wrong when she becomes Hokage! Believe it!

Wait, forget that for the moment, she needs to focus on the boy.

"So!" she hisses, shoulders tightening and teeth bared, "I'll just keep working on it 'till I get it right."

"Then you will continue to practice the incorrect form, engrain it into your foundations and become fated to remain mediocre." Engra-founda-medi-orca? Isn't that a big fish? Is he calling her a fish?!

"I'm gonna be a Hokage someday, believe it!" She will. She will, she will, she will. Jiji promised she has the potential and Jiji is the only adult who has never, ever lied to her. If he thinks she has a chance, then god damn it, Uzumaki Naruto is going to keep chasing that dream until her feet are bleeding and raw.

"Lower your voice," the boy with the girly hair hisses, his eyes turning freaky as hell with the veins around them bulging and oh god, that's ugly and sorta cool. "You never know who is listening."

Naruto doesn't care. She doesn't' care who is listening, doesn't care who is watching and laughing at her failures. She'll come out on top one day, she'll be the best and then all those who've look at her with those hateful eyes'll be sorry!

She swings around to the boy, ready to tell him those nasty words the drunken men slur at the Uchiha police.

Only, only the boy is standing before her with his knees bent and arms held aloft, a stance that she's seen often enough at the academy. Only, his looks so much better than hers does.

"Look at my feet, see how they are planted to spread my weight and offer better foundations. This is what you should be aiming for, even if you will not achieve my level of mastery."

"Not achi- You're on, pretty boy!"

.

Pretty boy is called Neji. He's cold, uses words that're too big for her to understand sometimes, and he's a year older than her. He's also very, very good at the tai-what's-it-called stuff. And… and he's kind. He helps her, even if he states he will not associate with her outside of her clearing. Naruto's not a stupid girl, she's well aware she isn't liked. She knows the people with the freaky eyes don't like her because the girl in her class hasn't talked to her again, not since that first day.

But… Neji does. Even if his family probably don't want him to. So, Naruto can deal with being a dirty little secret now.

When she's Hokage, they'll have to let her spend time with Neji; she'll make it the law if she has to.

.

And, unknown to the two academy students, Hyūga Hiashi watches their latest interaction and smiles.

* * *

**It'll be 1,000 words a chapter on average and I've got this baby going to try and kill my writers block. **

**Tsume**

**xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

.

"I've never heard of Maito Gai."

Arms folded across her chest, Naruto purses her lips after she speaks, even as her mind is cast back, wondering if what she has just said is in fact true. The name doesn't ring a bell but, then again, she knows most ninja by the appearance. Or by their voice, their jutsus, their chakra. A whole lot of things, but not names. They don't really tend to introduce themselves when it's time to catch her post-prank.

"If you had ever seen him, you would remember him. A bowl-cut and green… spandex." There's a stunned moment of silence as Naruto processes what her friend (her best friend, her only friend) has said. Then, she bursts out laughter.

"Oh my god, you go the Youth-man!" She's only ever seen him racing around the village, always training or bellowing about challenging his eternal rival to a battle. But it is exactly as Neji said; once you've seen this 'Gai-sensei', you don't forget him. From the pained look on his face, Neji has already resigned himself to this overly loud presence in his life. It's also alike the expression he wore when she kept popping up again and again and again in his.

Even if she knows he planned the first few times they met. Naruto's far from the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but she's not completely stupid. Why Neji had wanted to hang out with, she doesn't really know. But she has benefited from it. It's because of Neji that she got the henge down; it's because of Neji that she knows she has too much chakra for a clone illusion. She just can't do it; it's like trying to fill a shot glass with a water dragon jutsu. There's too much. Too much power, too much water, too much to get a refined trickle. It all flood out and Naruto just can't stop it. No matter the chakra control she develops, no matter how many leaves she sticks to her skin, no matter how many times she runs up walls (and that's another thing she needs to thank Neji for).

As for Neji… well, Neji's learnt how to keep going. That's really all Naruto's been able to teach him; the only thing she's better at than him is powering through, in keeping going when every other person would go down. Naruto's many things and a stamina freak is one of them. Neji'd had no choice but to build his own, otherwise he'd have lost their every friendly spar simply because Naruto would keep getting up after taking whatever punishment he'd dish out (and man, could he dish out punishment. Especially now that he's mastered that funky Hyūga style thing that she apparently can't learn without his freaky eyes) unless he put her down permanently.

But then he'd have had to explain to Jiji just why she was unconscious and Naruto rather gets the feeling that Neji would very much like to avoid that.

The Hyūgas are stuck-up assholes. It's exactly why she'd graffitied their South wall. Even if Jiji had made her wash it all off afterwards.

And yes, she's including Neji in that stuck-up bracket. He's just her stuck-up asshole, okay?

"You'll have new training techniques to show me soon then, right?!" Naruto chirps, rubbing her hands together in gleeful anticipation. She'd learnt wall-walking from Neji after all and even if she still can't do the shitty clone (the one thing that'd stopped her graduating with Neji, no matter how much she'd raged and screamed and had to scamper off to nurse her wounded pride), it's helped with her chakra. She just knows it has.

"You cannot rely on me to be your sole source of information. As a genin, I shall be occupied by missions to better the village, including ones that may take me outside of the Land of Fire."

"Yeah, you leaving is gonna suck. I'll miss ya loads, you know?" Cocking her head up to look at Neji (another irritating thing; he's taller than her, by nearly a whole head now and it's just not fair!). Naruto links her fingers and rests them behind her head, grinning. She's gonna miss him so much when he goes off on his missions, but it'll give her the chance to train sole, to catch up while he's off saving princesses or whatever.

Man, he better not get the super cool missions until she's a genin and can go with him! She'll ace this next graduation for sure!

She just needs to master that stupid clone jutsu!

.

* * *

.

"Yes, young Neji! How may I help you!"

Maito Gai's voice booms across the training ground and it's only because Tenten and Lee are both preoccupied enough to not eavesdrop (what with retrieving weapons and completing more laps respectively) that Neji does not cringe. He is now three weeks into his career as a Genin and it has been… hellish. The only comfort he takes is that Tenten suffers as he does. Regardless, he does hold some semblance of respect for Gai; the man truly is a master of taijutsu. That much is clear.

If only he weren't so infuriatingly loud then perhaps Neji may even come to enjoy training.

"I wanted to enquire about clone jutsus. I was under the impression there were more chakra intensive options than what is showcased in the academy."

"Yes! The shadow clone jutsu would be one to fit your description! It is indeed very chakra intensive; you do not yet have the reserves to apply this technique effective. It is a great goal to strive towards!" Gai plants one heavy fist into the meat of his other hand, dark eyes gleaming. "I shall endeavour to get you to a stage in your shinobi career where you can effectively make use of a such a jutsu! Then we may go see the Hokage about allowing you to read the forbidden scroll in order to learn its secrets!"

Sweet Sage, he does hope Gai doesn't talk like this to his opponents; the sheer amount that Neji has learnt from his single question is enough to have his head spinning. Surely not; the man is a Jōnin, he must know better than to talk to his enemy… Mustn't he?

.

Neji thinks very little of it when he reports back to Naruto what he has learnt; that there is a clone technique that requires far more chakra than he himself has access to. He recommends that she speak to the Hokage, with whom she has a strangely close relationship. Though, given what he has long suspected of her, then perhaps it is not so strange.

Jinchūriki, from what he has managed to deduce over years of covert study, are very much disliked by the populous. It generated a breeding ground for resentment, which is why the Biju holders are more often than not related to the Kage of a village in some form or another. The orphaned Uzumaki Naruto looking to the Hokage as her grandfather? It's clear textbook manipulation and it's obviously worked; Naruto's desperate to be Hokage, to be in charge of the village her grandfather loves.

It makes Neji sick but he cannot pull the rug from her feet. Not yet, not until he knows with the utmost certainty that Naruto is a Jinchūriki.

The large chakra reserves are another indicator, but the clan name she wears may also contribute. According to his textbooks and history scrolls, the Uzumaki were well known for their large reserve.

So yes, Neji does not consider it too much of an issue to share this knowledge with Naruto. He should have known to do so was a poor idea.

Two days later, all of the forces are on alert after the theft of the forbidden scroll.

* * *

**...surprise?**


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

.

Though he may have considered his actions subtle, Sarutobi Hiruzen has followed the friendship Hyūga Neji has haltingly crafted with Naruto.

Over the past few years, it has been one of the things that he has drawn his strength, drawn his hope from.

That this has somehow spiralled into Naruto's robbery of the forbidden scroll is less than ideal, but he can see the issue. Naruto has far too much chakra to ever be capable of the regular clone jutsu. In truth, he had been forestalling her graduation by not offering the jutsu for one reason and one reason only.

Uzumaki Naruto has to be on Uchiha Sasuke's team. Not that the two of them would benefit from this arrangement. No, the reason this has to be is because of who the council have dictated the young Uchiha's sensei will be. Kakashi needs to be involved with the daughter of his late sensei. Hiruzen is a tired old man, he's lived many years and lost his wife, lost a child, lost a student. He has an excuse to be sealed off from the world sometimes. But he's not.

Hatake Kakashi, even with the loss of his father, his teammates and sensei, is not allowed to curl up into a ball of self-disgust and misery. Not while Sarutobi Hiruzen is Hokage.

Which means he will be getting his lifetime supply of bouncing, beaming blonde very, very soon.

Yet, Hiruzen has to figure out a way to make this a punishment for Naruto. Stealing the forbidden scroll (despite how masterfully she'd managed to 'knock him out' with that… tricky little jutsu of hers) is a criminal offence. The only reason she hasn't been torn into is because, technically, she's still a civilian.

Perhaps he can pitch it to the council that she's Kakashi's trial run as a student before he gets Sasuke? The council will probably accept the fact he's pushing their Jinchūriki into her place earlier than he'd planned as a proper punishment, and he'll ban Naruto from anything but D-Ranks until she gets a team. That'll keep her in the village training and act as a real punishment for her.

Now that he's got that little issue tied up with a neat little bow, Hiruzen pulls open his desk draw where Jiraiya's latest masterpiece awaits.

* * *

Naruto eyes the old man who's not an old man and he eyes her right back. Jiji is no doubt watching them but Naruto doesn't care right now, too busy focusing on this weirdo that she's now being introduced to. It's funny, he's looking at her with something like distaste, only it's not the same flavour as what the rest of the villagers wear. No, while they always look like they've drunk some sour milk and it doesn't agree with them, this guy just looks like he's just been force-fed a lemon. His face has twisted all up but it's a recent expression. His face, or what little she can see of it, drops back into emotionless ninja expression #3. She'd say it's like what Neji had before she beat the whole 'feelings' thing into him, but that'd be a lie on two parts. One because his default expression had been disgust towards the world at large and two… because she's not ever actually beaten him to a pulp. Outlasted him in a fight? Yeah, plenty of times.

"Are you sure about this guy, Jiji? I'm not sure if I wanna trust a guy whose face I can't see. What if there's some deforestation under there?"

"Deformity, Naruto. The word you're looking for is deformity," Jiji murmurs with a sigh, puffing away on his pipe. She's pretty sure Iruka-sensei had said smoke is bad for your lungs and that any ninja worth their chakra who wants to live past forty are supposed to avoid inhaling it. Maybe she wasn't listening properly though and you're supposed to inhale it to live past forty… She'll ask Neji later.

"Maa, those who talk shit get hit, nee?"

"Wha-"

"Training time, my cute little genin."

.

Six hours later, Naruto finds herself crawling to her usual met up with Neji, her limbs aching and pulsating in ways she hadn't known they could. Man, there's a massive difference between a Chunin instructor having to take care of twenty plus kids, and then a Jōnin having the time to focus on a single student. Does she regret calling out sensei-who-hasn't-yet-offered-his-name? Not in the slightest. Her body still hurts though.

"Neji! Thank god, I need healing hands! Or at least my nerves deading so I don't feel the pain anymore." Naruto allows her arms to give up supporting her body now, dropping to the ground with a hearty thump, head to a side so she has a fighting chance at seeing Neji's approach. Her jerk of a friend stays right where he is, seated at the foot of the tree, hands clasped gently in his grasp and the veins around his eyes bulging in a way that says he's practicing with his freaky super-powers. Damn blood-line limits; why doesn't she have anything like that?

"Dare I ask what terrible fate of your own creation has befallen you now?"

"Of my own- Hey! How was I supposed to know borrowing the super-secret-ninja-scroll would get me in trouble!"

Neji flicks one eye open, staring at her with such an intense expression of 'you idiot I don't know how I put up with you' that Naruto can't help the blood that rushes to her cheeks.

"Well jokes on you, Neji, because I'm now a Genin of Konoha! See!" Naruto jabs a thumb towards the headband on her forehead. Even if she'd had to sit through a three-hour lecture by Iruka-sensei (who'd looked irritated to be there but Jiji apparently cannot spend that long telling her off because he has a village to run, so he'd assigned her telling off to someone else and just graced her with the grandfatherly stare of disappointment when she'd been marched up to his office), she's a Genin now. Just like Neji.

"I've even got a sensei, even if he is a total weirdo. Hey, hey! Let's compare training tips!"

Neji might roll his eyes at her, might scoff and huff. But he does join in on her Taijutsu training a moment later; of course he does, he's her best friend, no matter how much he tries to deny it. And now, they're Genin together. Look out world, here comes Uzumaki Naruto!

* * *

**...surprise?**


	4. Chapter 4

**IV**

.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL!"

Neji cringes, especially when he spies Naruto's wide eyed, prey-before-predator face half hidden behind the jōnin that Gai-sensei has come to pester. He trails behind his jōnin sensei alongside Tenten, aggressively ignoring the way that Lee is emulating their sensei.

It has been but a single day since Naruto became a genin (something that was describe to him as a 'punishment, I don't know, that's what Jiji said but I'm a genin like you now, 'ttebayo!'). He already has a three-week head start on her, but the thought of her being capable of producing these chakra-heavy shadow clones is enough to get him curious. Gai-sensei had implied that not only did Neji not have the chakra capabilities to use them himself yet, but that it would take months of dedicated training to reach a point where he would be capable of using them. That Naruto already can, well, he's interested in seeing the jutsu in action.

"Wh-who the hell are you, dattebayo!" Naruto jabs a finger in Gai-sensei's direction, her words utter nonsense given that she's the one who identified him when they last spoke upon the topic of his sensei. In the same second he thinks this, he seems the light switch on behind Naruto's eyes, the blue rings sweeping away from the jōnin to instead land on him. "Neji!"

And of course, that has Lee gasping in delight.

"Neji-san! You know our fellow genin?! The student of Gai-sensei's eternal rival?!"

Sage be damned, someone put him out of his misery.

"Maa, did you say something?" The distraction comes in the form of Gai-sensei's 'eternal rival', a tall, silver haired jōnin who yawns lazily behind his half-mask, one bored, slanted eye taking in Neji's team, with Neji himself last to be observed. He's not imagining it, the other takes him in a little more slowly than the others, for all that the look could still be considered a quick sweep. Because of his connection to Naruto? Because he was the one Naruto could identify by name? No, there'd been no hints as to which of them is Neji, only Lee speaking. Technically, Tenten could have been called Neji, as unlikely as it could be. Still, the other jōnin's gaze had been too sharp, too knowing to not be aware of the connection between his student and Neji himself.

Meanwhile, Gai-sensei drops to his knees, burning with a fiery passion that would probably be exceptionally appropriate during a grand event like the chūnin exams, but is spectacularly out of place in the centre of Konoha. "Kakashi! Allow me to introduce me to my promising young students!"

.

Their introduction is as flamboyant and excitable as one would expect from Gai-sensei. Naruto stares in horrified awe, the jōnin proves he's known Gai-sensei for what is probably considered far too long with the way he simple nods along, looking as if he's not listening in the slightest. Neji envies him.

Once Gai-sensei's overly colourful introductions are complete, the man folds his arms, looking imploringly at his 'eternal rival'. Naruto had claimed the man hadn't introduced herself to him when they'd met at the Hokage Tower and it seems as if that meeting in particular was just the normal routine; he doesn't introduce himself to them either. He does, however, introduce Naruto.

"Maa, this is my genin student, Uzumaki Naruto. She was a naughty brat and got caught stealing, so is on village lockdown until she learns not to get caught." His hand lands in her hair, fluffing it as Naruto screeches at him, arms flailing about and mouthing off about how she'll 'beat the crap out of him if he keeps introducing her like that and she's totally cool, 'ttebayo!'

Neji is embarrassed to be associated with her.

"Well, my eternal rival! Perhaps our genin should face each other in battle to see who has taught their student the most so far!"

"… I've not even had Naruto twenty-four hours, Gai."

.

Irregardless, Gai-sensei and Gai-sensei's nameless eternal rival set up a match between Lee and Naruto, seeing as both had been the Dead Lasts of their year group. The fact Naruto had managed to pass the graduation test early is a miracle in and of itself. Well, technically she hadn't passed. But the clone jutsu she'd learned had obviously been impressive enough to boot her out of the academy and into the arms of the nameless jōnin before them.

"So, Neji, who do you think is gonna win? It'll be Lee, right?" sitting beside him, Tenten leans over to as her question, eyebrows high in that same way she'd done in the academy, when she'd been betting weapons with the clan children. You don't bet against Tenten; she never offers to make a bet she can't win. Probably why she's not putting any weapons down for a prize at the moment. As much confidence as she appears to have in Lee right now, well, she doesn't know Naruto. Not like he does.

It's true that Lee's had three weeks of solid training with Gai. But Neji has been training with Naruto for years; if anything, she'll win from a sheer ignorance to human limitations and her unwillingness to concede to anyone. She's practically inhuman in that context and that's one more point in the 'probably a jinchūriki' column he'd mentally tallying up. The evidence is becoming overwhelmingly obvious.

"Naruto doesn't go down easily," he concedes, taking as seat beneath the shade of a large oak tree. If anything, with Lee's determination and Naruto's sheer stubbornness, they're in for a long spar.

.

Neji's right. It takes thirty minutes for Naruto to emerge triumphant. Lee doesn't go down without a fight but, with only three weeks of serious taijutsu training, there's only so much he can do against the girl who keeps getting up again and again. And the clones; there's so many that Neji had to activate his Byakuran to keep track of them all; hundreds of them.

But here they are, Naruto victorious, if a little battered, and the nameless jōnin patting Gai on the shoulder.

"Better luck next time I guess, Gai. Come'on, Naruto. Let's go fix all those holes in your form, you're like a slice of Swiss cheese."

* * *

**...**


End file.
